From: Nicholas Camerota <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fwd: Sharon threatens to hold Arafat prisoner for years - smh.com.au - World [WW HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- smh.com.au - World Saturday, January 12, 2002 Sharon threatens to hold Arafat prisoner for years [PHOTO CUTLINE: Shelter gone ... a Palestinian woman grieves next to her destroyed home in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces razed more than 70 homes in the area under heavy fire. Photo: AFP/Fayez Nureldine] by Ross Dunn, Herald Correspondent in Jerusalem and agencies The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has vowed to lock up the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, in his West Bank headquarters for years unless he agrees to meet Israel's demands over the arrest of Islamic militants. Mr Sharon also warned that Israel will examine ways to punish the Palestinian Authority, which he says recently dared to smuggle arms from Iran. The warning came as Israeli tanks and bulldozers ploughed up runways at the Palestinian-controlled Gaza International Airport yesterday in the latest response to a Palestinian raid on an Israeli army post in which four soldiers were killed. The operation followed an Israeli incursion into a Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday that destroyed dozens of buildings. On Thursday, the United States condemned the latest demolition. "We have been very clear about the need for Palestinian action against violence and terror," a State Department official said. "At the same time, we do not believe that demolitions of Palestinian property and homes can contribute to the restoration of calm and an end to violence." Addressing a meeting of his right-wing Likud party in Tel Aviv, Mr Sharon said Mr Arafat would not be allowed outside the West Bank town of Ramallah until the Palestinian Authority arrested those suspected of assassinating the Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam Ze'evi, in October last year. Mr Arafat has remained grounded in Ramallah since December following a series of Palestinian terror attacks. Israel refused to allow the Palestinian leader even to travel to Bethlehem, in another part of the West Bank, to attend Christmas celebrations. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the murder of Mr Ze'evi, saying it was in revenge for the Israeli Army's assassination of its leader, Abu Ali Mustafa, last August. "Even if we open the other [Palestinian] cities and remove the sieges on them to ease things for the population, Ramallah will remain under siege," Mr Sharon said. "Arafat will remain closed in Ramallah and won't leave." US officials say there is convincing evidence that senior figures in the Palestinian Authority, if not Mr Arafat himself, were involved in the arms smuggling, along with Iran and the guerilla group Hezbollah. However, President George Bush said the smuggling affair would not mean an end to US efforts to renew peace talks and broker a ceasefire. The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said he was pressing Mr Arafat and his colleagues to account for the arms smuggling affair. "The information we are receiving and developing on our own makes it clear that there are linkages to the Palestinian Authority." [enditem] _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________
